Dragonfly
by Kettobase
Summary: Being reborn into the Uchiha clan in the same generation as Itachi promises nothing but a short-lived second life. But, by god, if I'm going to die with certainty, I'll go out with a bang. SI Rebirth.
1. Prologue

**Dragonfly**

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><p><strong>0.<strong>

* * *

><p>My life sucks.<p>

Well, it did even _before_ I ended up in this weird predicament, but now it really _really—_like, _phenomenally—_sucks.

There's no easy way to say this other than to just put it right out there.

I died.

In an incredibly stupid way, too, from what I can remember.

Everyone always warns you about stress, you know? Don't push yourself too hard, take care of yourself, get some rest when you need it, et cetera. But _those_ people are the ones who have easy lives or just insanely positive outlooks on everything, or are the ones lucky enough not to be stressed out when they give the advice.

Try not being stressed out just a few short hours before the deadline of your graduation project to earn your very first bachelor's degree. All of your paperwork has already been filled out, submitted, approved by the department heads without a doubt and it's smooth sailing—but only in the event that you complete all of your work and earn passing grades before classes officially end. Anything less, and you're shit out of luck; go back to start and try again.

That was my situation during the unfairly early hours of a random, unimportant Thursday morning—_Thursday,_ of all days—just two hours past midnight. The presentation would mean the end of my life if I didn't finish it on time and submit it, along with the grossly long essay that detailed its progress, before my capstone class began, because it consisted of half of the entire grade and there was a zero-tolerance policy for lateness.

Procrastination was probably what killed me, now that I think about it in hindsight.

But, in short, spurred on by the fear of having wasted my entire college career and facing the failure of obtaining a much sought-after diploma—one of my dreams—because scholarships were no longer an option with my track record of credits and I was too dirt-poor to pay for further education out of my own pocket, I made a mistake.

The mistake that cost me my life.

I was rushing around, not paying attention to anything but graduating university, and slipped on the goddamn printouts scattered all across my bedroom floor. Hit my head on the corner of my desk.

Blunt force trauma to the head is a quick way to go.

At least, that's how it had to have happened. My memory's pretty much a blank after the moment I slipped and the only memento I have left from the occurrence is a remarkably tender scalp.

And a second chance at life.

But...considering the circumstances, it's more of a curse than a gift.

I was a grown woman, once—sure, I was immature and bratty and probably never would be a proper, responsible adult, but _now_ I'm a little girl by the name of Rika.

Uchiha Rika.

And Itachi is my younger, distant cousin, by something like a year or two—whatever the technicalities are, it's as good as a death sentence. Like, really, could there ever be a bigger absolute fuck-you from the universe? I wouldn't even get close to old enough to legally drink or do all those fun adult things again.

Somewhere up there, the gods are laughing.

It was hard to come to terms with, at first. But eventually I decided that, if I'm living on borrowed time anyway, I might as well make the best of it and do my damnedest to send the ones responsible for my reincarnation the metaphorical bird, too, everyday, up to the inevitable _Fated Day. _

Then, if my karma isn't too bad, as soon as I die (for the second time) I'll be reborn into my original world where I belong. Maybe get to see my family again, if I make it before they pass away. Apologize to all of my friends for being such a stressed-out, waspish bitch during finals week. Pet my dogs again and tell them I'm sorry I didn't play fetch with them as much as they wanted.

Until then, I'll live my new life however I want, doing whatever I want, because when death is a certainty—and soon—there's no more time to waste.

Even if it all just sucks, it doesn't mean I don't get to enjoy the ride.

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><p><strong>Notes: <strong>Here's a preview/prologue of what I'm working on during November for NaNoWriMo 2014. More info will be given when I post the first chapter. Thanks for reading!


	2. No Fun Allowed

****Notes/warnings: ****And now, for something completely different from what I usually do. Gotta step out of the comfort zone sometime, right? This is a hugely experimental work being done for NaNoWriMo so it might not be the most organized or flowery thing, but it's something. It's going to be short compared to my other stuff (50k words or slightly more), kinda drabble-y, but the plot's more or less lined up and there's a solid conclusion planned. Anyway, it's another Rebirth SI fic, but this time I'm keeping the insert character as true to myself as possible.

Rating is for language. There won't be any serious romance but mentions of it are definitely a possibility...maybe. Manga spoilers are also a possibility. Also, it doesn't have any continuity whatsoever with _Laterality_ but the portrayals of canon characters might be similar because I just have too much fun giving certain ones a hard time.

Dunno if I'll finish it by the end of the month and it's probably gonna be pretty weird but thanks for checking this out!

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><p><strong>I.<strong>

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><p>I'm pretty sure I was a good kid, at least once upon a time, but for Emiko and Satoshi—my second parents—I was one-hundred percent convinced I was a veritable <em>nightmare<em> of a six-year-old. An absolute terror.

I drove them up the wall and I had fun doing it.

Well, except for the times when Emiko reached her limits and hauled me up onto her lap to beat my ass red.

They were good people, just a little frayed at the edges from having a wild, freewheeling daughter that had little regard for social etiquette and authority. I felt for them, really. But not enough to become the quiet, composed, polite, respectful, intelligent—the list went on, and on, courtesy Mama Emiko—child they wished they had.

It was probably because I was such an enormous handful that they never tried for more kids.

But, hey, being an only child wasn't so bad. It was new. It was nice. I didn't have an annoying older brother trying to drown me in the swimming pool for fun every single damn summer anymore!

Well, I did have something of an older brother in this life, but I'll get to that later.

About Emiko and Satoshi, though—they were both Uchiha, born and raised. Naturally pretty, just like most of the people from this godforsaken clan tend to be, but also a little weird and uptight, too, mostly because of the village politics.

Being Uchiha was no walk in the park.

Satoshi often complained to Emiko about what kinds of topics and arguments arose during clan meetings, how the village viewed them (which wouldn't get any better after Kyuubi's attack, I knew), what the Hokage should or shouldn't do, and how newly-appointed head Fugaku-sama was too lenient or strict regarding this or that policy, yada yada. Daddy was very much pro-Uchiha, being a part of the council that met often, but he was also strongly opinionated.

He worked in the Police Station with a good deal of the other Uchiha adults.

Emiko, when not over-agitated and forced to transform into a fearsome demon to maintain order in the household (again, mainly my doing), was a kind, but not overly sweet, woman. She valued hard work and didn't confine herself to being only a housewife. Her occupation was the neighborhood seamstress, handling the production of new, bland, ugly high-collared clothing for the majority of the district's population and taking care of small rips and tears that needed mending.

She was lucky I wasn't a bad hand at sewing myself, and actually enjoyed it quite a bit in my former life, otherwise when she asked me to help her it would have only caused more stress.

But she quickly learned about my dislike for the gloomy, deep and dark monotony of the "Uchiha uniform" when I sneakily weaved a rainbow of colorful threads into the clothing seams and that was the end of that.

Even though I acted like a teenager in the midst of a rebellious phase most of the time, I _liked _Emiko and Satoshi. They were good parents. They treated me well despite it all.

I was the only child they'd ever known—their _own_ child, in their eyes—so I figured I owed them that much, because it was a possibility they would never have any more, being that the clan's demise was barely a decade away.

The clan's fall.

Itachi was currently four years old—if my memory wasn't faulty, he would end up eradicating the clan, including me, when he was thirteen. At least, sometime after he was inducted into ANBU. Only Sasuke, currently unborn but soon to be, would remain alive.

If I'd wanted, I could try to stop it. Influence Itachi, warn Shisui somehow and keep Danzo from interfering, throw a big huge tantrum in the middle of Konoha and scream about corrupt, foul play that would lead to murder and hard feelings and all kinds of tragedy, but...

I really _didn't_ want to. Why burden myself with something like that when it would all turn out the way it should in the end? This story already had its beginning and its end set. I knew that the main cast would handle everything and, when all was said and done, they would know exactly what to do.

Call me a fatalist, but I trusted them. It wasn't my timeline to interrupt. I was only visiting.

Besides, there were so many more things to do than wear my conscience thin with savior complexes and grandiose visions.

Konoha was an interesting place, full of interesting characters—people.

I wanted to try becoming one of them before I died, because no one would remember me anyway.

But not through becoming a shinobi, no, that life was wrought with death, and I didn't want to cut mine any shorter than it already was. It wasn't a world I wanted to set foot in.

There were other ways to leave my mark.

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><p>"One fish, two fish..."<p>

To anyone watching the scene from afar, it probably would have seemed like a cute little girl was passing the time playing by the riverside barefoot on her own, singing and not causing harm or damage to anyone or anything. The Naka River that cut through the clan property was a popular spot for recreation, after all. No one ever thought to look twice when people were congregated there or just hanging idly by.

But if they stopped to look just a little closer, they would have seen a makeshift tree branch fishing rod clutched between my chubby, dirt-covered hands, tied at the end with some of Satoshi's ninja wire that was in turn attached to one of Emiko's sturdy, curved upholstery needles. I was pretty proud of the thing—neither of the folks had a fishing hobby so I had to improvise, and it worked pretty damn well, considering.

I'd dug up a handful of wriggling earthworms for the activity, too, for bait, because there wasn't a decent fishing shop anywhere in the whole damn town who would sell a confrontational haggler of a child any proper equipment. I had the ryou—I mean, I had _Satoshi's_ ryou, but the old shopkeeper refused no matter what and ran me out of the shop when I started cussing.

In the end, this is what it came to. But the koi sure were biting.

Three! There were three koi in the little yellow bucket I carried with me specifically for the task—Emiko said it was for the sandbox they'd recently installed in the local park, but that just sounded _so_ boring. Who needed kiddy sandboxes when there was a perfectly abundant river in the district? Maybe I'd wrangle up a whole group of the neighborhood kids and start a fishing club, because even if they wanted to become shinobi, fishing was a skill that benefited anyone, anywhere!

The line tugged, and with one swift jerk, I reeled in another catch.

I dropped the flailing, slimy koi into the bucket with the others and grinned before speaking out my pride in the somewhat mangled Japanese my young self had managed to learn. "Wouldja look at that, I'm pro!" The words and pronunciations still felt heavy on my tongue, because I was never that proficient with the language before despite trying my best to learn (again, procrastination), so I tended to use simplistic terms. And as for writing it? Emiko practically broke down in tears when she did her best to teach me and it just didn't take easily. But she kept on, like a champ, and I think it became her life mission to turn me articulate and literate.

But, at least I had fishing. Some skills never left even when one passed between the threshold of life and death. Even if that skill was mostly dumb luck.

"Hey, what are you doing there...? Rika?"

The voice was familiar—I'd only met the man twice before because of Satoshi's position on the clan council, but it was most definitely Fugaku. Clan Head and Police Chief—as well as Sasuke and Itachi's good ol' dad—himself, probably on a patrolling round when he'd caught sight of me and got suspicious. His tone was weary, and a little forced, as if he were afraid what he'd find out. But with my track record, he was right to be.

I slapped my brightest, toothiest, kiddiest smile onto my face as I heaved the yellow bucket into my arms and held it up towards the older Uchiha to proudly exhibit the results of my conquest, because it was pretty impressive in all actuality. "Fishin'! See! I caught this many, Fugaku-sama!"

Fugaku's stern, but slightly curious, expression soured over into something shocked and simultaneously disgusted as he spotted the fish flopping around in the bucket, helpless and gaping for air. He was so taken aback he even _stepped_ back, jaw hanging open in surprise because, really, what kind of six-year-old Uchiha kid would think to do something like that?

Only me, Uchiha Rika, the Problem Child of the Entire Clan—self-proclaimed title.

The man sputtered for a moment, briefly mirroring the breathless fish as he strained to find a response, and if I didn't know better I'd think he choked on air, too. But as soon as the shock passed, his composed, authoritative expression was back in place. "Rika," he began, doing his best to keep his tone level and not-so-harsh because I was just an innocent little kid who oh-so-obviously didn't know better and was, all things considered, not very smart, "you can't fish here."

Oh, boy, he was really trying his hardest not to lose his cool. There was a telltale pulsing nerve near his temple and a twitch in his jaw. He sure got lucky, having good, well-behaved kids like Itachi and Sasuke.

"You mean it's not legal? Am I gonna get arrested?"

"...No, but. Put—just put them back."

I could all but hear the gritting of teeth. Maybe today was the day the clan leader would actually lose his cool and lecture me into next week just like Satoshi said he would. He came damn near close when I accidentally bleached almost all of the council's clothes (seriously, it _was_ an accident, because Emiko kept the cleaning supplies in basically identical containers. Who did that?).

At least I was a perfect example of how _not _to let your kids act.

"Why?" My grin stretched further, and I was sure I was like a Cheshire Cat. Being a kid again was the best thing ever.

"Because, Rika, you _can't_ fish here." Had to hand it to him, he really tried to have the patience of a saint. "Those koi are ornamental—for decoration _only._ Not sport." Even going so far as to explain to me just what was wrong here instead of outright reprimanding me despite the fact he probably hated me.

Emiko and Satoshi could learn a thing or two from him.

When I didn't move, he reached for the yellow bucket—and I quickly held it away and narrowed my eyes. "I'm gonna eat 'em."

"Koi don't taste very good, Rika—" Finally, his nerves were beginning to fray. He crossed his arms and stood tall, parent-mode on, just daring me to keep up the innocent kid act when he knew I knew better. "If you don't put them back I'll have to tell your parents about this."

"But fish filets—"

"_Rika!_"

Ah, that voice, my saving grace—or more like my clean-up crew. I ignored Fugaku in favor of the new arrival, my worrywart cousin and surrogate big brother because he didn't have any siblings either, Uchiha Shisui. I grinned again and waved frantically, cheerfully, doing my best to balance the heavy bucket with only one arm as the contents sloshed and came close to dripping on Clan Leader's shoes.

"Shisui! Hey, come look!"

In spite of my excitement, poor guy looked downright frazzled because I'd gone and landed myself in another mess, this time with Fugaku, of all people. He was only a year my senior but already acted so much older and responsible, quite possibly thanks to me.

I was pretty sure he'd have stress lines by the time he was a teenager.

Shisui quickly assessed the situation and looked nearly as gobsmacked as Police Chief had been when he realized what the issue was. "Rika..." he held out his hands for the bucket imploringly, putting on his best Mom Face—at least that's what it looked like, when he got all serious on me. "You can't fish here. Let's throw them back in, okay?"

I just couldn't have any fun when he looked so troubled. Made me feel a little guilty.

"'Kay. Be free!" Instead of handing the bucket over like he asked, I dumped the contents into the river and watched the four koi flounder about before getting their bearings and swimming away with the current. Then I turned back to the two stick-in-the-mud Uchiha and prepared to state a complaint—but a hand pressed against the back of my head (_ow ow ow_ didn't I mention my scalp was super sensitive?! Some people just didn't care) and forced me into a stooping bow.

Jerk.

"She didn't mean any trouble, Fugaku-sama," came Shisui's voice as he bowed beside me, like a partner in crime, apologizing in my stead. "And she won't do it again. Right, Rika?" I felt, rather than saw, his eyes slide towards me and stare, putting on the pressure.

I shrugged. "I won't."

The hand on my head slipped away, leaving my hair feeling slightly mussed (but it was unruly anyway, often sticking out to the sides in a weird spiky, fanned way so it didn't matter), and I quickly straightened my back to stare up at Fugaku, putting on my best, most charming smile.

The man eyed us both critically for a moment, wondering just how he should react, but in the end he only breathed out a deep sigh and shook his head, probably just glad the ordeal was over. "Alright. I'll take your word for it." His gaze met mine, and while exasperated, it wasn't particularly pissed. Bet he still didn't like me, though. "You're lucky you have someone like Shisui here to look out for you, Rika."

He was damn straight. Shisui was so good at smoothing over bad situations that he could probably get me out of jail free—if I ever needed it. With the added bonus that he was practically Itachi's BFF and already had good standing with Fugaku here as well as the great majority of the clan... unlike me. The kid was going places.

Well...they weren't necessarily _good_ places, considering how his life would end. But he was someone to be proud of, at the very least.

As soon as Fugaku left us and continued on his patrol route, I was left to deal with Shisui, who was in full-out mom mode, hands on his hips, dark eyes narrowed and everything, the whole nine yards. He looked a little like Emiko when he did that, even, because we were related from her side of the family—and because they were both pretty, even when mad, and even with his chubby, harmless kiddy face.

Emiko and Shisui's dad Kou were both Kagami's kids; we were first cousins. But everyone in the clan was related somehow or another except for the rare few that married in from outside the clan (and all outsiders married in no matter what because of some stiff, prestigious clan rule, so there were no stray bloodlines wandering out beyond the district and everyone could be kept track of easily. Control freak much?)—I was pretty sure Fugaku was our distant cousin, too because of something Satoshi once said. It was all kind of inbred in one way or another but no one really ever mentioned that.

Clan purity was a scary thing.

"Rika...did you take those without asking?" He pointed to the fishing rod, but more specifically, to the ninja wire and sewing needle, and frowned.

"Yeah?" As if he even needed to ask—Emiko and Satoshi learned the hard way that they had to keep basically every single little thing out of my reach because I'd only use them to terrorize the neighborhood or something without their supervision. Like the time I ran around the district with Emiko's undergarments on my head.

A grimace overtook his face at my blunt response and he sighed, looking as if he wanted to cradle his head in his hands and cry. "That's no good, Rika. You_ know_ Auntie Emiko and Uncle Satoshi will get upset."

"I'm not_ stupid,_ Shisui. I know. Just was bored is all." Being a six-year-old was fun, to an extent, but having to uphold the attitude of one publicly was a pain in the ass sometimes, especially when I wasn't that great at speaking the language yet. Everyone thought I was a moron, or just too naïve, or reckless, never thinking things through, seeking attention—like a Naruto or something, even though he wasn't born yet. They didn't know I was mentally probably the same age as most of the younger adults in the village and I was working on completing my newly-revised bucket list.

They didn't know what I knew.

I picked up the silly-looking fishing rod and shoved it towards his chest so he could confiscate it, like he usually did. He had to have a treasure trove of the many things he'd taken from me, somewhere. Hell, he could have returned most of it to their rightful places for all I knew. "It's no crime—is it?"

Maybe fishing for koi in the Naka River was something like destruction of property, actually.

No one really did eat them, after all—Fugaku was right.

"Dunno." Shisui set the fishing rod over his shoulder and shrugged. Well, I guess he didn't know _everything_, since he was only seven. "But, anyway, Auntie wanted me to find you and bring you back for dinner. Let's go." A smile spread across his face as he nodded his head towards the main street. Even if he was bothered by my bad habits, he never held it against me.

A few days after this little incident occurred, the police department went to great lengths to post boldly-lettered "NO FISHING" signs along the riverside.

I was pretty sure it wasn't a coincidence.


	3. Keeping Up With The Uchihas

**II. **

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><p>It was a normal day in the household of Uchiha Emiko and Satoshi.<p>

And by normal, it was meant that everyone in the immediate proximity could hear me starting up a racket and pissing off my mom first thing in the morning.

"I don't _wanna_ go the ninja Academy! Can't make me!"

"_Why?_ Rika, it's what every child does, and it's what your father wants," Emiko stated matter-of-factly, hands on her hips. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure dear old Dad wanted me to be born a son like Shisui, too. "I just can't understand why you won't do what we ask—are you embarrassed of your language skills? They're getting better every day!"

"_No?!_ Hah, I talk good!" I threw out my hands in a shrug before crossing my arms defiantly, refusing to change out of my little frilly pink nightgown (had to admit, Emiko dressed me up pretty cute) and into proper outerwear for the trip to the Academy.

The entrance ceremony was scheduled for today and Satoshi and Emiko had been planning for me to enroll since three months ago when I turned six. They just couldn't understand why I was so against it. I mean, I was pretty sure Emiko was capable of homeschooling me either way—and I didn't care for becoming a shinobi at all. _I_ couldn't understand why they couldn't understand.

"Don't wanna go is all."

At first, Emiko always tried the gentle approach, even if her expression was strained. "I _promise_ the evaluation won't be something difficult, Rika. If there's a written test, it'll be easy! No kanji at all—you know most of your hiragana and some katakana. And you can speak well enough to get by for your age!" She held out a plum-colored dress with the Uchiha crest printed on the front and smiled kindly, as if she wasn't cornering me at the end of the hallway and trying to force my hand. "Shisui goes there, too, you know. You won't even be alone. You two can even walk to school together when you get accepted."

Yeah, and he wouldn't be there for much longer, probably. Even if he acted like a totally normal—well, over-responsible—kid around me, he was talented and intelligent. He'd graduate and become a genin _just_ as soon as I started classes, probably, and leave me in the dust. Then, Itachi would enroll when he was five or six and I'd become known as the unskilled loser of an Uchiha who was no good at ninja stuff.

Nah, I wasn't afraid of being teased by the other students for my Japanese skills that left much to be desired—I was just totally unwilling to live in those two's shadows since I wouldn't put any effort into learning anyway.

I knew I was being a brat but the hell with it!

"Bribery." To my credit, I could at least pick up a few useful words from Satoshi's heated summaries and criticisms concerning the clan meetings. Even if I couldn't use them in a proper sentence most of the time.

"Rika..."

"Look, you can't make me, okay?"

"Oh you wanna bet?"

"I'm not goin' anywhere, Emiko! You're not my _mom!_"

Even if it was half true, that was the wrong thing to say—especially calling her by her first name. Emiko flipped her switch and engaged in full-out demon mom mode, and if I knew what a threatening chakra flare felt like I was certain it would be the thing that caused me to break out in a nervous sweat and try to disappear into the wall while questioning my entire life's choices because her glare was _terrifying._

_I was gonna die!_

_Again!_

...But in reality, two minutes later, I found myself fully-dressed, dark hair combed neatly (aside from the way the layers habitually fanned out awkwardly to the sides), with my hand gripped in an iron hold as Emiko ruthlessly dragged me out of the district and down the street towards the Academy.

Damn.

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><p>The old lady was right. The entrance evaluation was easy. So easy, in fact, that my pride hardly allowed me to flunk something even a five year old could ace. Even if it landed me in the last place I wanted to be.<p>

All the kids there just looked so damn _happy_ to get the chance to become little killing machines. I didn't really get it. Why were such violent, dangerous occupations glorified? If they were lucky, they'd live long enough to have a family, but even then was it even worth it when they would probably die during a mission anyway? Maybe it was to become strong; to protect what they loved. But that wasn't something they could do if they kicked the bucket.

Well. In their defense, they probably weren't thinking about something like this in the long run. Konoha _was_ a ninja village, after all—becoming shinobi was just sort of what everyone did.

I wasn't sure about the village's economy, but I was pretty sure the job paid well enough to live super comfortably, too.

But no one really wanted for much in the Uchiha clan either way, so there wasn't anyone to compare that assumption to.

Oh well—whatever it was, by the time graduation rolled around, me and half of my class would be dropouts anyway. Not everyone was made to be a shinobi.

Even so, Satoshi was over the moon when he heard the news that I'd become a student at the Academy. He was so overjoyed, in fact, that he immediately wanted to start me on the beloved katon jutsus the clan was known for, and the idea was just all kinds of bad. _Come on,_ Satoshi, who in their right mind would let a _kid_ learn to play with something so dangerous?

I swear, the man fostered some huge delusion that I was going to sprout into this Sharingan-wielding genius kunoichi one day and he believed it was his duty to prepare me for that.

The only thing I ended up doing was catching the kitchen table on fire. And that mishap wasn't even thanks to a technique.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Rika, the hand seals aren't that hard to learn. See?" Satoshi entwined his fingers together to demonstrate, speaking the name for each seal as they were formed as we sat across the table from each other (it got replaced). "Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger."<p>

He may as well have been rapping at me for all I knew. Six hand seals—_six?_ I could barely even form the most basic one yet! And out of all of them, the Horse seal looked almost impossible for my stubby little fingers. Not only that, but he didn't even tell me what jutsu these seals were for—probably the Fireball, but who knew.

I wish I could say that I could just cop out on it all and claim I couldn't manipulate chakra at all whatsoever, but Daddy here was a sensory-nin and he was smart enough to know I'd be lying. And he'd started teaching me how to handle chakra since they'd decided to send me to school. He was smart, that Satoshi.

Too bad I was a genius at being stubborn.

"I can't do that."

"What? Of course you can. Look, watch again." He repeated the hand seals, a little slower than before.

"Are you crazy?"

"Rika..."

Unlike his wife, Satoshi was more passive with my upbringing and only got his authority involved when something I did concerned ninja training. Otherwise, when I got in trouble, he only gave me a slap on the wrist and a short lecture because Emiko's rage was something to be reckoned with and he probably figured I suffered enough punishment already. Typical good cop, bad cop routine.

Oh, and he literally was a cop.

"Just try it, okay? If you do, on my way home tomorrow, I'll bring you something nice from the bakery."

He was also the one who bribed me with cakes and candies.

"...'Kay. Deal."

Halfway through the seal set he'd assigned, I ended up getting a cramp in my pinky.

"_Ugh_, I told you! Impossible!" I waved my arms about to get the feeling back into them, scowling, and let them drop like dead weight on the tabletop along with my head. I wasn't even pretending—it was getting on my nerves. Why couldn't I just be like a normal civilian kid whose parents didn't want me to become some great, legendary ninja? Or at least on Shisui's level. It was no mystery that Dad was only doing his best to train me up because there was some sort of unspoken competition going on between him and Kou. Now that Shisui and I were both Academy kids, it was a game of who graduated first and whose family would produce the best pint-sized shinobi.

Who knew that even ninjas got caught up in mundane things like keeping up with the Joneses? Or keeping up with the Uchihas, rather.

In any case, Shisui and Kou were going to win, hands down.

Satoshi ignored my dramatics and hummed quietly. "I don't think it's impossible." There was a sudden smugness in his tone.

I glanced up to see he'd crossed his arms and was studying me from the corners of his dark eyes doubtfully. New approach, hm?

"I think, maybe, you're just a _chicken._"

Now he'd gotten my attention—and he knew it. But, calling me a _chicken?_ Of all things? Hah! Once I found out where the clan kept the coops I'd show _him_ just what a chicken was! I'll turn his bedroom into an animal farm!

"Am not."

"Are you sure? It's perfectly fine to be afraid of fire. I mean, for most people."

"Afraid? I'm not afraid of nothin'!" I was well aware he was stooping to such a low, immature level because he knew it would get my goat, but—_damn_, did it piss me off! Who liked being called a chicken, really? No one. "I can do it. Just watch."

I straightened my back and held my arms out in front of me before running through the Fireball's required seals one more time.

"The Boar seal doesn't look like that."

He interrupted me and my fingers tangled together, ruining whatever I'd been trying to form next, _just_ before I was done! Satoshi was a cool guy, but he could be a real jerk and my temper was already past boiling point because _why_ did he care so much about whether or not I became a shinobi? He didn't even care if I didn't want to follow that path! It was all about his stupid competition!

I had a _special_ one-finger hand seal that summed up my feelings on the matter, just for him. "Oh yeah? Then, _this_ is right?"

"_Rika!_"

Jeez, did Emiko have the worst timing.

But, on the bright side, because she'd caught me flipping Satoshi the bird, she had me pulling so many weeds from the front garden that I couldn't physically perform any more hand seals for a week.


	4. Hot Stuff

**III.**

* * *

><p>Okay—I'll admit one thing. Learning how to be a ninja was actually, like, crazy cool. The sky was pretty much the limit with techniques and other various specialties, and if you were good at moulding and balancing your chakra output appropriately you were guaranteed to be a success. With the proper guidance, of course.<p>

Learning about Konoha's and the Ninja World's history was actually interesting, too. Everything was so much more in-depth than what was briefly given in the manga and for a passing moment—but only, like, one teeny-tiny second—I actually thought that maybe I _did_ want to try for the rank of genin. Given my lineage and my current level of intelligence (even despite my bad handle on the local language), it would probably be cake. Maybe I actually _could_ keep up with Shisui and Itachi instead of hanging back on the sidelines, and end up doing something that would make Satoshi and Emiko proud.

But, unfortunately, laziness and unwillingness that could give Shikamaru a run for his money won out in the end and the idea no longer sounded quite so appealing.

Nah. It just wasn't the life for me.

Plus, my classmates were all beyond annoying and they tried to actually become _friends_ with me. I would have skipped classes if I had the option to do so, but the first time I did it and succeeded, Emiko immediately found out and made me de-weed the garden again. After yelling my ear off.

I didn't have many options left. So, to keep the kids off my back, I took to chasing them all around outside during recess while making ultra-threatening, slobbery kissy-faces. They were _mortified. _

"Run! It's Cootie Rika!"

When one shrieked it, they all scattered.

In my class year, there were about five civilian or clanless kids, a Hyuuga, three unidentifiable Uchiha cousins, a couple of Naras, and a Yamanaka or two, going by clan crests and appearances. No interesting canon characters at all, unfortunately. I really would have liked to traumatize some, if only just a little.

And you know what? I was really good at cornering them all and smacking kisses right on their fat little cheeks.

It earned me the reputation of creepy cootie-girl Rika and three hours of time-out in the corner during lessons, but it was totally worth it. They never bothered me again. Not for a while, at least. I mean, kids tended to wander back to things like moths to a flame.

"Rika, what did you do _now?_"

Naturally, word got out to Shisui and he brought up the topic while we were walking back to the clan district after school. We walked together to and from, just like Emiko said we could, and Itachi would be joining us sooner or later—and it could very well end up being Itachi and I alone walking together if Shisui graduated soon. How awkward.

Unlike Shisui, I hadn't really had the chance to interact with Itachi much yet aside from the time when the council threw Fugaku a congratulatory celebration for becoming the new leader and pretty much the whole neighborhood was invited. Didn't get much of an impression from the kid other than we were practically polar opposites, but I'd already known that much.

Wonder how _he'd_ react to being kissed on the cheek.

"I didn't do 'nything, Shisui," I grinned, nudging at an abandoned tin can sitting in the road with my shoe as we walked.

"I really doubt that. I'm pretty sure _Cootie Rika_ has to be you," he said pointedly. "There's not another Rika in the school." Quick to catch on, as always—didn't I mention he was smart? I kicked the can towards him and he intercepted it, momentarily distracted, but not distracted enough to just let the subject go. "Going around k-kissing your classmates isn't a good way to make friends, you know. I mean, would _you_ like it if someone did that to you?"

He passed the can back in my direction and I stopped, stepping on it to keep it from moving, then rolled my eyes. "_Ha_, who needs friends? Am fine without 'em. Plus, 's not like anyone'd have the guts to do the same to me. They're all babies. _You're _a baby, Shisui." I pushed my foot against the can, rolling it back at him. When it rolled and clanked past him and he didn't make any move to catch it, I knew I'd said the wrong thing.

Shisui had stopped in the middle of the road just a few paces back and there was a confrontational vibe about him. His arms were crossed, his brow was furrowed and his lips were set in a frowny little pout. Oh, and he was glaring—it was the first time I'd seen him so upset, since he usually fretted and worried instead. Sometimes I forgot he actually was a little kid who could have his ego bruised.

"I'm not a _baby,_ Rika."

"Coulda fooled me."

"Take it back."

"No _waaay_." I waved my hand dismissively and stuck out my tongue.

"You know, you can get pretty arrogant sometimes, Rika." Now, he set his hands on his hips. "I think you need some payback." Slowly, his stern expression brightened into a mischievous grin. "Like, a taste of your own medicine!"

"No way, you're not gonna!" I put my hands on my hips, too, and stared him down, just daring him to call his bluff. Trying to teach me a lesson, was he? Well, so could I.

"You bet I am! Watch out, Rika, here comes _Cootie Shisui!_" And with that, he lunged for me while making an exaggerated kissy-face.

"That—_that doesn't even make sense!_" I backpedaled away just in time and then prepared to turn tail and run. I remembered a little too late that this _was_ the guy who'd later be known as Shisui of the Body Flicker—I just hoped he wasn't fast enough to catch me _now._ "Don't try it!"

"Oh? You scared? Just who's the _baby_ now, huh?"

"I ain't scared of nothin'! I just don't want your gross germs!"

He made another grab for me but missed (only because I half-tripped in an attempt to escape), and then the chase was on. And damn it all if he wasn't fast, too. My stubby legs could barely work fast enough to keep me in the lead.

"I'm serious! Stop it! Gonna tell Uncle Kou on you!" I yelled back as he tailed me across one of the bridges over the Naka River. If he kept it up I'd push him _into_ the damn thing. Oh, wait—on second thought, that was a bit too cruel.

"Just what are you gonna tell him?"

"That you're an_ idiot!_" When there wasn't a response, I got really uneasy. And, when I glanced back, I found out he was gone. Gone! Just like that! _No way, no way_, there's no way he knew how to use the Body Flicker technique already, was there? At only seven?

I halted in my tracks, and the moment I did, it was a big mistake—just what he wanted and I fell _right for it._

Not even a second later I was ambushed, grabbed around the sides and hoisted into the air, then spun around in a dizzy circle before being let go way too suddenly. I stumbled on my feet and toppled over onto the ground, face-first, while that _moron_ laughed and giggled at my misfortune.

"I was only kidding, Rika. Here."

When I looked up, his hand was held out towards me to help me up—but the look on his face when his eyes met mine was anything but amused. He looked suddenly horrified, pale as a ghost and I had no idea why until I felt a sticky warmth drip down over my mouth from my nose and then splat grossly on the ground. Shisui's hand faltered before he pulled it back and began to frantically search his pockets for something—probably a tissue or handkerchief. Oh, he was sweating. Emiko wouldn't be happy that I got hurt under his watch, nope.

In a way, payback was sweet.

I grinned despite my bloody nose. "You're screwed!"

"Don't—don't say that, Rika!" Finally, he found a little square cloth of material and quickly held it up against my face before helping me up and rushing the both of us home.

For once, I wasn't the one who got yelled at.

* * *

><p>Satoshi never did give up on teaching me all of the clan's amazing fire jutsus. But, instead of taking it on himself, he graciously allowed Uncle Kou to lend a hand since he was in the middle of teaching Shisui the techniques as well. Two birds with one stone, or something.<p>

Whatever his intention was, it was a huge pain for me.

Uncle Kou was... well, there's no light way to say it. He was _weird._ Loud and exuberant for an Uchiha—which was really saying something since mostly everyone was reserved and traditional, but every family had its black sheep—and super doting towards both his son and me. But, since our families were so close (we literally lived next door to each other), Shisui and I may as well have had three parents. In a way, since Kou was his only living caretaker, Emiko could be considered his mom because the whole family was super-involved in child-rearing. In fact, the entire neighborhood took care of everybody in it and all the children were sort of raised by everyone, to an extent. Even me, but I was super unpopular and most of the adults did their best to stay away from me and keep their kids out of my range of influence. On the flipside, Shisui was a constant presence because Satoshi and Emiko thought his upright behavior would somehow influence _me. _

No luck there.

Kou, like Shisui and Emiko, had that sort of soft, fluffy hair that originated from Kagami, but the man wore his long and unruly and—unbrushed, I was sure, to where it made him look like a kind of maniac in a damn-near Madara-esque way. But it fit his image.

I guess I was pretty lucky to have inherited the straighter kind of Uchiha hair from Satoshi, even if it still had a mind of its own.

But, hair aside, I wondered just how Shisui turned out to be such a well-mannered kid when his dad was so _wild_. There was barely ever a time when Kou wasn't smiling or grinning or cracking a joke, bragging—I was pretty sure he was drunk a good deal of the time, too, because I'd seen Satoshi (who, despite their one-sided competitions, was actually like a blood brother to him) half-dragging, half-carrying him home at night a few times before—and he was even beyond excited when he had to handle teaching two little kids how to play with fire.

Overall, he was pretty much like an overgrown child.

Actually, Shisui was probably so responsible because he _had_ to be. And Emiko was probably the way she was because of her brother, too.

...I wondered if people ever thought Kou might have been my real dad and Shisui and I got switched when we were young, or something.

"Hey, hey, kids, you watching? _This_ is the clan's renowned Grand Fireball jutsu—you're watching, right?" Kou cast me and Shisui a quick glance to check, for the third time, that we _were_ in fact paying him our complete attention, and, once he was positively sure he had an audience, he swiftly ran through the six hand seals Satoshi had been teaching me before breathing in deeply and then exhaling a blazing stream of flames that rolled into a large sphere, bright enough to bask the entire, dusky forest clearing in a warm, hot light.

Damn it all if it wasn't impressive—not even Satoshi could produce one that looked _that _awesome. It was like a tiny star!

"Whoa! Uncle Kou, you're on fire!" I couldn't properly convey my astonishment into words with my limited vocabulary, so I had to settle for an odd phrase. But he accepted the praise without questioning it.

"I know, right?" He crouched down beside me and Shisui and set his hands on top of our heads to (roughly, but fondly) ruffle our hair. "So, who wants to give it a whirl first?"

After being released from the vertigo-inducing gesture that left us both with crazy bedhead, I pressed my hands on Shisui's back and pushed him forwards. "Shisui does!"

"Aw, come on, Rika...shouldn't it be ladies first?" He glanced over his shoulder sheepishly, and for a moment I wondered if he was shy. I'd never seen him in ninja-mode before and he'd never shown me what he learned during his training—I never thought it was anything strange, before, but the fact that he was so reluctant was a little adorable.

"Not a lady. I'm six."

Didn't mean I would let him have his way, though.

"But—"

Kou quickly intervened. "Here's an idea. Why don't you both show me your hand seals? Whoever has the best ones can go first. Everybody wins!"

Turned out I'd actually become better at switching between hand seals than cousin dearest from my numerous attempts to show-up Satoshi. Kou even had to correct him on a couple. No wonder he was embarrassed. He was barely trying! Guess he was still a year or so away from being one of the most talented members of the clan.

"Rika, then! Satoshi said he's been training you. Have you tried this before? "

"Only once. Not allowed to use any flames in the house. Or near the house. Or in the neighborhood."

For a minute, Kou actually looked caught off-guard, and frowned with uncertainty. But that didn't last long and he was back to his usual hyperness, grinning maybe a _bit_ too mischievously. "Ah...well! That's why we're out here in the forest away from trees and buildings so nothing will catch fire! So, don't hold back, alright? Give it your best shot!"

"'Kay, Uncle Kou."

The formulation of fire-natured jutsus was trippy. When the hand seals were performed correctly and chakra was moulded properly, a warm, searing sensation coiled upwards from the chest where the chakra circuits originated and rose to the mouth, where it would exit as a burning flame once it mixed with the great amount of inhaled oxygen. So, with the development of a chakra circuit, people in this world were able to create fire from within the body and spit it out at enemies, like mini-dragons.

Weird as hell, I tell you.

"Here I go!" I twisted my fingers through the six required hand seals and gulped in a huge lungful of air before exhaling it all out quickly with a _whoosh. _

It _burned_. It was hot hot _hot_—so, so, almost painfully hot, that I was sure it cracked the skin around my mouth and dried out my lips but it was so damn _liberating._ It was big and bright and the flames swirled around so intensely before they swelled into an over-sized balloon of a fireball that set the night ablaze.

I was pretty sure this was what it _felt_ like to be a mini-dragon. I could take on the _world_ with it! No wonder Uchihas were so arrogant and proud.

Once my lungs were emptied and the fire extinguished itself, I saw that the grass beneath the technique was slightly charred. The first time I tried, under Satoshi's supervision, I hadn't made nearly as much progress. Probably because I'd been doing my best to irritate him and get him to just give up, not giving it my all.

"Whoaaa!"

Shisui and Kou clapped and cheered after the flames died away.

"Atta girl, Rika! See, it's not so hard, you're a natural!"

"Ha, not really." I didn't want to hear _that_.

"Modesty, modesty," the man dismissed, shaking his head. Then he clapped his son on the shoulder. "You next, Shisui. Show us what ya got."

Shisui's Grand Fireball wasn't nearly as impressive as mine (I swear that wasn't a brag), and it was clear as day on his face that he was disappointed—but in the fading flicker of flames, I thought I could detect a hint of jealousy, too. It was gone so fast I couldn't be sure.

It made me uneasy. Would he start to consider me a rival, if this kept up? I didn't want to be a benchmark for Shisui. I didn't want things to get all competitive between us like it was with our dads. For his sake, I'd intentionally dumb myself down and keep it that way, because hanging out with him just as a friend and not a rival was _fun_. I didn't really have anyone else my age that I could handle, and if he left, things would get _boring._

…And he wouldn't get me out of trouble anymore.

"Good job, son!" Even if he was slightly crazy, Kou was fair with his praise. He smacked his son on the back and ruffled his hair again before looking over the both of us critically. "Now, why don't you both try again? Practice never killed anyone."

Almost as soon as he said them, the man had to swallow his words.

I ended up setting the trees on fire.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Well here's the deal: I took a couple months to let this story sit and after rereading, I decided it doesn't need much major editing at all, only the usual minor editing per chapter. I mean, it serves its purpose as-is well enough, so expect more updates from this from now on since it's already complete. I mean, it may still take a while for me to post it all up but it _will_ be done.

And about the reviews—I sorta got mixed up and lost about who I _have_ replied to and _haven't_, so if I never got back to you, let me off the hook on that? I'll do better with that in the future, promise. Just know I've read them all and each review makes me grin like a happy idiot, so big thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed and whatnot!


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